The Dubki park in Moscow defended by the Muscovites: women and children beaten up and arrested by police

12. abril 2016

Nicola Sossass

Autor:
Youri S. IAI Activist

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Private securities are reported to be beating up and harassing inhabitants of the Timiryazevsky district in Moscow. The local police have arrested fifteen activists and grassroots during the protest actions. Women and children have become victims of repression.

Since early March, inhabitants of the Timiryazevsky district in Moscow having been staging actions protesting the construction in this green area, one of the few that have survived in Moscow as a result of major construction projects completed.

Activists claim that due to the construction works, trees are being felled illegally, and no public hearings on the issue have been held.

A twenty four storey high rise building is planned to be constructed on the park territory equipped with an underground parking area.

On March, 31, inhabitants of the Timiryazevsky district blocked the entrance way to the construction site in the Dubki park. They sat down on the ground and, clasping their hands, tried to stop the trucks from entering the site.

The company securities surrounded them and tried to pull them apart. The people were manhandled and thrown away, but the protest participants kept sitting down again and clinging to each other.

‘’The police have arrested the 15 most active inhabitants involved in the protest against the construction. Only women, children and some old people are left. Among those arrested there are some teenagers!" –Yuliya Galyamina, a witness and participant, is quoted as saying.

"Today, on the illegal construction site in Dubki, Ivanovskaya street, Moscow, the developer, supported by the local police precinct, have arranged a preplanned provocation, which has resulted in the beatings of local inhabitants involved in the protest action, with the police being inactive first, and then, about 30 policemen headed by the chief of the local police precinct, having rushed to arrest the most active participants and helped to push away the rest. Then the trucks did enter the site! The local inhabitants intend to appeal to the local prosecutor’s office and police authorities of the district for clarification " – Vitaliy Kuleshov, a grass root activist, is quoted.